How the Internet of Things impacts marketing

The Internet of Things is affecting virtually all industries, has a tremendous impact on the volume of data and on network traffic (and how we handle them) and is increasingly popular in a consumer context.

The IoT is also revolutionizing business operations that are maybe less attractive for consumers but very real and tangible, from logistics to marketing.

Marketing automation vendor Marketo released an infographic on the marketing power of the Internet of Things based on data from Economist Insights, Gartner, Salesforce and Verizon Enterprise.. The “subtitle” already says where that power – and impact – can, is and will be felt: connectivity for better customer interactivity (among others).

Marketo defines the Internet of Things (IoT) as “the interconnectivity of our digital devices that provides endless opportunities for brands to listen and respond to the needs of their customers – with the right message, at the right time, on the right device”.

Of course, the Internet of Things also will impact customer experience, the amount of data gained through connected devices and analytics. In a consumer and marketing context, Big Data and (predictive) analytics are never far away.

Data-driven marketing and real-time customer data for service, advertising and more

According to the infographic 51% of the world’s top global marketers expect that IoT will revolutionize the marketing landscape by 2020. After looking at some consumer evolutions Marketo resumes the ways marketers will use IoT (mainly in a data-driven marketing view) as follows:

Analyzing customer buying habit across the platforms customers use.

More and previously unobtainable data regarding the ways consumers interact with devices and products (the “connected devices” themselves).

Getting a better insight into the buying journey and in which stage of it the customer is.